The Whakatāne District Council’s Annual Plan and Fees and Charges for 2014/15 have now been adopted and take effect as from today.

A report setting out the key changes from the draft Annual Plan was received at an extraordinary Council meeting on Monday, and it confirmed a 2.95 percent increase in the District’s total rates requirement for the year. The Council had previously indicated that average rates across the District would rise by less than three percent, and Mayor Tony Bonne says the final outcome reflects the determination by elected members and staff to hold rates increases to an affordable level.

“There’s always a balance to be struck between affordability and the need to improve the services and infrastructure the Council provides for the community,” he says. “I think that balance has been achieved, because we’ve been able to accommodate extra spending in some key areas, such as stormwater improvements in Whakatāne and Ōhope, covering an increase in the cost of waste disposal and lifting maintenance standards on the District’s unsealed roads, while keeping the average rates increase very close to the 2.91 percent indicated in our draft Annual Plan.”

Also adopted at Monday’s meeting was the Rates Resolution for the 12 months commencing on 1 July 2014. The rates resolution sets the exact charges to be levied for general rates, the Uniform Annual General Charge (UAGC) which applies to rateable properties throughout the District, and the various targeted rates applying to services such as roading, stormwater, sewerage, water supplies and refuse removal. The resolution also specifies the dates when rates and water rates payments will fall due, plus the penalty which will apply to late payments and discount for on-time payments.

The first rates instalment for the year will be payable on or before Friday, 22 August, with subsequent instalments due on 21 November, 20 February 2015 and 22 May 2015.